1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rotary electric apparatuses, such as electric motors and electric generators, mounted on automobiles and trucks, and in particular, to a rotary electric apparatus in which stator windings are wound to have coil-end blocks from one of which lead wires are drawn out.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of types of rotary electric apparatuses have now been used, one type of which is proposed by Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 2002-335657. This publication provides a rotary electric apparatus which is realized as an electric motor and an electric generator, which have a stator having a stator core around which stator windings are wound. The stator windings are connected with lead wires which extend axially in order to electrically connect with other electric parts. Specifically, the lead wires extend out backward from a coil-end block in the axial direction, and wired along the coil-end block so that the lead wires extend backward axially to connect with a rectifier. Other than those lead wires, the stator windings are electrically connected with each other by a connector near to the coil-end block and the connector is arranged to axially protrude more than the coil-end block.
In the above construction taught by the publication, the lead wires drawn out of the stator windings are arranged along the coil-end block to given positions corresponding to connections of the rectifier. However, as the wiring along the coil-end block becomes longer, the lead wires are likely to cause vibration, which may lead to breaking of the wires. In other words, there is a problem that the lead wires are obliged to have a decrease in durability.
Additionally, the lead wires connecting to the rectifier extend backward more than the coil-end block in the axial direction, which may prevent welding jigs from moving. However, the welding jigs are used during a welding process to form the connector being protruded from the coil-end block. Thus, this will affect the productivity of the rotary electric apparatus.